Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations

House Speaker M. Kirkland Cox says the expansion approved this week “includes what I consider the most conservative set of reforms to Medicaid in the nation as part of a plan to expand healthcare coverage to working Virginians." Also, in Michigan, expansion supporters protest one candidate's efforts to switch gears.

The Washington Post:
Why The Trump Administration Made It Easier For Virginia Republicans To Expand Medicaid
In becoming the first state in nearly two years to open Medicaid to more of its poor residents, Virginia lawmakers found political buffering and momentum in a recent conservative health policy shift in Washington. Three of four Republican state senators who defected from their caucus’s long-held opposition to expanding Medicaid cited the fact that the Trump administration is allowing states to impose work requirements for the first time in the half-century history of this central piece of the nation’s social safety net. (Goldstein and Vozzella, 5/31)

Richmond Times-Dispatch:
Beyond Medicaid Expansion, Virginia Has Unfinished Business On Health Care
Gov. Ralph Northam is expected to sign a pair of budget bills early next week that include expanding Virginia’s Medicaid program under the Affordable Care Act, marking the end of a five-year political war in the General Assembly. The heavy lifting is far from done for lawmakers and state officials, who didn’t include money in the new two-year budget to raise Medicaid reimbursement rates for doctors and other front-line health care providers. (Martz, 5/31)

Kaiser Health News:
Virginia Reverses Course On Medicaid Expansion
After years of fighting Democratic governors who wanted to expand the state’s health program for low-income residents, lawmakers in Richmond Wednesday agreed to the measure. Julie Rovner, Kaiser Health News’ chief Washington correspondent, discusses the development with WAMU. (5/31)

Detroit Free Press:
Michigan Voters Protest Schuette's Opposition To Medicaid Expansion
More than 100 low-income voters gathered outside Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette’s office in Detroit on Thursday afternoon to protest his opposition to Michigan’s Medicaid expansion, which has become a cornerstone of his gubernatorial campaign. One of Schuette's campaign pledges is to cut Michigan's Medicaid expansion. The cuts could affect nearly 700,000 people in Michigan who rely on Medicaid, a community member with the group said. The protest included a "die-in," where everyone laid down in front of the Cadillac Building. (Blackmon, 5/31)

In related news -

CQ HealthBeat:
Lawmakers Ask Supreme Court To Hear Case On Medicaid Challenges
A group of 90 Republican lawmakers urged the Supreme Court on Thursday to decide a case about whether Medicaid beneficiaries can challenge a state’s disqualification of a Medicaid provider. The 24 senators and 66 representatives asked the ... court in an amicus brief to overturn a ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit that allows beneficiaries to do so, which the lawmakers say conflicts with Congress’ constitutional authority to dictate the contours of Medicaid law. (Ruger, 5/31)

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